There are reports of confusion and anger at FEMA trailer parks today over the agency's unclear policy on the parks' future.Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that a number of the parks would be closing today as part of... More...
FACING SOUTH - Online Magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies
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November 2007 Archives
Why did Mississippi's Trent Lott decide to bid adieu to U.S. Senate before year's end? Of the many theories out there, Slate's Timothy Noah deserves credit for being the first to look at an intriguing possibility -- his ties to... More...
Sometime over the last week, in a flurry of posts about New Jersey, Mike Huckabee, HUD scandals and sandhill cranes, we passed an important landmark here at Facing South.Since launching in spring 2005 with the vision of offering a fresh... More...
We recently brought you the story of how the John Locke Foundation of North Carolina has been leading the attack on states' efforts to regulate greenhouse gases while failing to disclose that it's funded by business interests with a financial... More...
Citing concerns about investments in sub-prime mortgage backed securities, Florida local governments have withdrawn billions of dollars from a State of Florida investment fund, including withdrawals of $3.5 billion in one day. The run on the State Board of Administration... More...
Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, the Mississippi attorney who became rich and famous by taking on the asbestos and tobacco industries, has been indicted on federal charges of bribing a judge in a lawsuit over Hurricane Katrina insurance claims, the Clarion-Ledger reports.Scruggs... More...
Raymond Seed, a civil engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has sent a 42-page letter [PDF] to the head of the American Society of Civil Engineers alleging that the organization colluded with the Army Corps of Engineers... More...
Their annual migration is underway, and Sandhill Cranes are beginning to arrive at the Hiwassee Refuge. The 1000 acre Hiwassee Refuge, operated by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiwassee rivers at... More...
Sierra magazine recently looked at the nation's colleges and universities and picked 10 schools that are leading the way in promoting environmental responsibility. Of those 10, three are in the South: Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C., where a sustainably... More...
Speculation is rampant about what caused Mississippi's Trent Lott to up and announce his plans to depart the Senate by the end of the year.The leading theory -- and one of the best -- is that, for Lott, being in... More...
The Washington Post published an excellent report in yesterday's paper on the deep divide in the post-Katrina recovery along the Mississippi coast, where beyond the bright lights of the newly built casinos working-class neighborhoods remain in darkness and more than... More...
More than 40 human rights organizations sent a letter last week to federal officials protesting the planned demolition of some 3,000 public housing units in New Orleans. The letter -- which went to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. David... More...
Last January, Florida implemented a new law that requires the state to reject voter registration applications if the information provided doesn't match driver's license or Social Security records. The law was crafted with help from Hans von Spakovsky, who has... More...
The U.S. Supreme Court is halting executions by lethal injection until deciding whether the practice is cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the 8th Amendment. Executions in Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas are effectively on hold until... More...
The campaign of Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee got a boost recently from Outdoor Life. The hunting and fishing magazine with more than 5 million readers named Huckabee one of the 25 "most positively influential people... More...
The Movement Vision Lab at the Center for Community Change -- a special project that aims to "bring together grassroots organizers and social justice advocates to share and debate long-term, visionary ideas for the future" -- has launched an interesting... More...
Last week we brought you news of the excellent database launched by the Center for Global Development showing carbon dioxide emissions from the world's power plants. Now a British newspaper has used that database as a starting point to illustrate... More...
There are many, but USA Today points to one particularly relevant to workers in search of a holiday this week:For the first time in at least three decades, New Jersey will be one of 18 states open for business on... More...
Leslie Eaton of the New York Times follows up on a story we covered last August -- that despite billions of dollars spent on post-Katrina recovery, few dollars are reaching those most in need. Eaton looks at Mississippi: Like the... More...
If you don't live in the coalfields of Appalachia, you may not think that mountaintop coal removal has much to do with your life.Think again -- with help from the folks at Appalachian Voices.The Boone, N.C.-based nonprofit has unveiled a... More...
The Institute's special report released this week -- exposing the NC-based John Locke Foundation's crusade against state climate policy, and the corporate interests backing them -- continues to rage on.See, for example, the spirited discussion over at Ed Cone's blog.... More...
Anyone interested in understanding how much carbon dioxide pollution is being emitted by the world's power plants has a terrific new resource to turn to: the Carbon Monitoring for Action database, or CARMA.A project of the Confronting Climate Change Initiative... More...
University of Tennessee Women's Basketball coach Pat Summitt joins other notables such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael J. Fox, and Nancy Pelosi as one of U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Leaders for 2007. In honoring Coach Summitt, U.S. News... More...
In my story about the fossil fuel-funded attack on the Center for Climate Strategies, I incorrectly reported that the group "embraced" gas taxes. In fact, the Center does not "embrace" any policy solutions to climate change; gas taxes are merely... More...
The story I wrote about the fossil-fueled attack against the Center for Climate Strategies by the North Carolina-based John Locke Foundation has apparently touched a nerve with Locke's Executive Director John Hood, judging by his defensive comments over at Greensboro,... More...
Our report yesterday on the North Carolina-based John Locke Foundation and its efforts to derail state climate policy is generating a lot of attention -- and ruffling a few feathers.The Raleigh News & Observer's Under the Dome blog -- which... More...
New polling data is coming in that seems to support the case made in our earlier post about possible 2008 presidential dark horses coming out of the South. Today, Political Wire reports on former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's move in... More...
HOSTILE CLIMATEThe Center for Climate Strategies wants to help states cut global warming pollution. A North Carolina think tank funded by energy interests wants to stop them.By Sue SturgisGiven Washington's reluctance to tackle global warming, many states have recently taken... More...
Following up on our previous report about drought conditions around the South and particularly the Atlanta area which now has only an estimated 80 day supply of water left, Florida has backed out of an agreement that would have let... More...
We're now officially in the homestretch for the 2008 presidential races, last week marking the one-year mark until Election Day.The Clinton/Obama/Romney/Giuliani/Thompson juggernauts are wrapping up endorsements, donors and media time -- and if there's a dark horse candidate out there,... More...
Election 2007 is now behind us -- no contested elections! -- and following up on R. Neal's post yesterday, this year's election cycle revealed some interesting trends as we head into the big enchilada of 2008.One of the biggest was... More...
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still allowing more than 52,000 households displaced by Hurricane Katrina to live in travel trailers despite documented high levels of formaldehyde -- but yet it has cautioned its own employees about entering stored trailers... More...
The first congressional veto override in President Bush's seven-year term is especially welcome news in Louisiana, which is set to receive almost 30 percent of the $23 billion allotted by the Water Resources Development Act.According to an analysis published in... More...
Louisiana's outgoing Attorney General has borrowed a page from the playbook of his Mississippi counterpart and filed suit against insurance companies for their treatment of policyholders in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.AG Charles C. Foti Jr. yesterday announced that his... More...
Kentucky ousts one-term Republican Gov. Fletcher, elects Democrat Steve Beshear: Fletcher was the first Republican elected Governor of Kentucky since 1967. Fletcher's term was plagued by scandal, racking up nearly 30 indictments including his own on a misdemeanor. His opponent,... More...
House and Senate members negotiating a Defense Department spending bill yesterday agreed to tuck an extra $3 billion into the legislation for Louisiana's Road Home post-Katrina rebuilding program, which is facing an estimated $3 billion to $4.5 billion shortfall.Pushing for... More...
(U.S. Drought Monitor, Oct. 30, 2007)The long, record-breaking drought continues across the South, and is reaching a crisis point in many communities.Where I live in Blount Co. Tennessee, we get our water from Little River, which starts out as a... More...
The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act (S. 1668) got a boost last week with the unanimous endorsement of the New Orleans City Council. Similar legislation (H.R. 1227) overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, but the Senate... More...
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is urging a congressional hearing and a halt to federal transportation funding for Louisiana "until officials can ensure freedom of movement."The call comes after a grand jury's decision earlier this week not to indict a Gretna,... More...
One of the biggest problems in the post-Katrina recovery that we found in our recent report, Blueprint for Gulf Renewal, was jobs. According to Institute analysis, there are still about 100,000 fewer jobs in the Gulf than there was pre-Katrina... More...
The National Woman's Law Center has released the 2007 National Report Card on Women's Health, the fourth in its series of annual reports on women's health issues.The report card is based on a number of status and policy indicators. Nationally,... More...
Speaking of criminal justice in post-Katrina New Orleans, an Orleans Parish grand jury declined to indict Gretna Police Officer Lawrence Vaughn on a charge of illegal use of a weapon in connection with his firing a gun on the Crescent... More...
by Bill Quigley, Guest Contributor"We are faced with the daily reality of an imminent collapse of our criminal justice institutions." -- New Orleans Police Chief Warren RileyNEW ORLEANS -- Some say crime causes a city to be under siege; others... More...
